Railway rail and gage joint



C. E., BROWN.

RAILWAY RAIL AND GAGE 10mm APPLICAUON FILED SEPT 9 I920.

Patented Mar. 8,1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

"c. E; BROWN. RAILWAY' BAIL AND GAGE 10m.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 9, I920.

1,370,5 Patented Mzm 8, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RAILWAY RAIL AND GAGE JOINT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 8, 1921.

Application filed September 9, 1920. Serial No. 409,120.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLYDE E. BROWN, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city and county of Napa, and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Rail and Gage Joints, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates, in general, to that class or" rail-joints comprising and combining a fastening for the meeting ends of the rails, and a tie or gage rod extending across the road-bed and secured to the opposite rail; and it particularly pertains to that type of rail joints in which the base of the rail is seated in a bed-plate, the edges of which engage and tie the toes of the angle splice-bars or fish-plates, and hold said bars tightly under the rail head, thus preventing them from loosening under rail spreading strains.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple, economical and eflicient combined rail and gage joint, adapted to hold the angle-bars in position against the spreading tendency due to stretching or breaking of their bolts, and to relieve, by supporting the base of the rail, the head strain imposed upon them; and, at the same time, to tie said joint firmly and directly to the opposite rail, thereby maintaining the gage of the track at the joint, a place at which it is most likely to be impaired.

With this end in view, my invention consists in the novel rail and gage joint which I shall now fully describe by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of my rail and gage joint.

Fig. 2 is a section, broken, on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section, similar to that of Fig.

2, showing a development in the structure of the bed-plate, and of the gage-rod, resulting in the provision of means for additionally tightening up and adjusting the 'oint. 1 Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the adjustable bed-plate, showing means for adjusting and tightening it independently of the gage rod.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and- 2, the numerals 1 and 2 indicate alined rails (Fig. 1), their adjacent ends being separated as usual. In Fig. 2, the opposite rail 3 of the track is shown. 4 are the cross-ties of the road-bed. 5 are the angle-splice-bars or fish-plates fitted in place between the head and foot of the rails 1 and 2, traversing their joint, and fastened by bolts 6 through the web of the rails, as is usual. 7 is the rail-joint bed-plate. This plate is formed on its upper face with a longitudinal channel 8, bordered by side shoulders 9, outside of which are seats 10, bordered on their outer sides by uprising flanges 11. The bedplate 7 receives the base of the rails 1 and 2 in its channel 8, and receives the lower edges or toes of the angle-bars 5 on its seats 10 and confines said toes between its flanges 11 and the rail base; and said plate 7 is secured to the cross-ties 4 by spikes 12 (Fig. 1) which are fitted in slots in the edges of the plate.

The bed-plate 7 crosses the joint of the alined rails 1 and 2, and is formed, in the line of said joint, with a downwardly projecting lug 13, through which passes the gage or tie-rod 14, the head 15 of said rod lying against the outer side of said lug.

The rod 14 extends across the road-bed to the opposite side, and receives upon its end, the clamp member 16 which engages the outer edge of the foot or base of the rail 3, as seen in Fig. 2. A nut 17 on the end of the rod 14, in conjunction with the head 15 of said rod, serves to tighten and hold the bed-plate 7 and the clamp member 16 together, and thus to preserve the proper gage. As a further development of the rail joint; and to better insure the clamping effeet of the rail-joint bed-plate 7, and to adjust it when necessary, said plate, instead of being a single piece, as in Fig. 2, is longitudinally divided as appears at 7 in Figs. 3 and 4, its sections being spaced as shown. Provision is then made to adjust these sections with tightening effect on the rails and angle plates.

In Fig. 4, one form of such means is shown, consisting of the short bolts 18 passing through lugs 19 of the plate sections and receiving nuts 20. But the preferred form, which is shown in Fig. 3, is to make the gage rod 14 serve such additional adjusting purpose or function. This is done by fixing a stop collar 21 on said rod, abutting against the inner side of the inner section of the divided bed-plate 7, and by fitting the end of the rod with a nut 22 in place of the head 15. In order to avoid any tendency of the rod to sag and thus release the stop collar 21 from its contact with the plate, it

is best to pass the rod 14: through a lug 23 to maintain the track gage and to hold the parts 1n general to the proper position, but

by a proper manipulation of the head nut 22, the divided or two part bed-plate 7 can be independently adjusted and tightened up.

I claim A railway rail and gage joint, comprising a bed-plate longitudinally divided and its sections spaced in the line of division, said plate having a longitudinal. channel in which the bases of the meeting ends of alined rails are seated, and having also at each side an uprising flange spaced from the channel to form intervening side-seats above the level of the channel floor and helow the top of the flanges, and said plate being further formed at the outer side edge of its outer and inner sections respectively, with a downwardly extending lug; angle splice-bars fitted and bolted to the meeting rail-ends, the lower edges of said bars resting on the side seats of the bed plate and confined between the side flanges'o'f said plate and the bases of the rail-ends; a gagerod passing through the lugs of said bedplate and extending across the road-bed to andunder the opposite rail of the track; a clamp-member fitted to the end of the rod and engaging the base of said opposite rail;

a tightening nut on the rod bearing on said clamp-member; a stop fixed on said rod and bearing against the lug of the inner plate section, and a nut on the rod bearing against the lug of the outer plate-section.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to thisspecification.

CLYDE E. BROWN. 

